


Quiet in the labs

by AlternateUniverses



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Arguments, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bruce Banner Needs to Feel Safe, Domestic, Gen, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 17:51:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18643075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlternateUniverses/pseuds/AlternateUniverses
Summary: Bruce Banner doesn't need much. Just a quiet place to work.Somewhere he can feel safe.





	Quiet in the labs

**Author's Note:**

> Just an old drabble that I managed to unearth. Written waaaaaaay back - circa 2012 or 2013 I think. Back when the team was first coming together and fandom was our oyster.

Bruce turned his back on the shouting.

It was a typical post-debrief situation. Tony had ignored orders and common sense and done something thing incredibly stupid that nevertheless ended the battle and saved threatened chunks of New York, and now Steve had stormed into the lab, resplendent even in sweats and a tee, vibrating with indignant anger and ready to chew Tony out. Tony, of course, had risen to the challenge, and now the lab (Bruce’s lab, his place, it was supposed to be _safe_ ) was reverberating with shouts and accusations and taunts.

Bruce hunched in on himself, reciting the periodic table and each element’s corresponding atomic number to block the noise. It used to always work. It should work, but he felt himself tensing, the Other Guy rolling under his skin, ready to come out. It’s okay, he thought. It’s fine, it’s Tony and Steve, they’re not really mad, they won’t hurt each other. But Steve was big, bigger than both Tony and Bruce, and despite his gentle nature Bruce was only too aware of how easily it would be for him to hurt either of them.

The Other Guy shifted urgently, desperate to be allowed to come out and protect, and Bruce shoved him down desperately, curling even further in on himself. The argument was reaching a crescendo – “You can’t just do whatever you want, Tony! Someone could have gotten seriously hurt!” “Oh, what, you don’t trust me, Cap? Want to keep all the glory for yourself, is that it? Good ol’ Captain America, you know – ” – and Bruce pressed his hands against his ears, reciting the names of each planet – including Pluto – and its corresponding moons loudly enough that Tony and Steve’s voices faded to buzzing in his ears.

A touch at his elbow had Bruce almost jumping out of his skin, the Other Guy leaping forward to attack. Bruce opened his eyes (and when had he squeezed them shut?) to see Steve and Tony looking at him cautiously.

“Bruce?” Tony said softly, one hand still resting on Bruce’s elbow. He cut Steve a look. “I’m – I’m sorry. We’re done.”

“I’ll go,” Steve said. His voice was muffled by Bruce’s hands over his ears, and Bruce peeled them away to hang limply at his sides. “I’m sorry to disturb you.” Steve shot Tony a look, this-argument-isn’t-over, or maybe you-fix-this-now, and turned to walk out of the lab.

“Hey, Brucie, you okay?” Tony said softly as the door whispered shut after Steve. He placed a hand on each of Bruce’s shoulders, ducking his head to meet the other man’s lowered eyes. “Hey, Big Guy, it’s me. Tony. You know you’re safe here, right?”

“It doesn’t feel like it.” The words slipped out of Bruce’s mouth to lie accusingly on the floor between them. Bruce studied it; studied them. The stark white floor and Tony’s Chucks and his sneakers and the words that he’d never admitted to himself, would never admit out loud, that had slipped out of his mouth to lie on the floor accusingly like a trail of muddy footprints.

“Bruce?” Tony said softly. His hands fell from Bruce’s shoulders. And a tremor went through him but Tony didn’t step back. “What do you need?” The silence stretched between them for long moments before Bruce shook his head and stepped back, busying himself with the pages of equations he kept scattered all over his worktables.

“Nothing, Tony. Just quiet in the labs.”

Tony looked at him for a moment, eyes searching, then nodded briskly. “Got it, Big Guy. No family dramatics in Dr Banner’s Lab of Awesome.” He looked a Bruce for another long moment while Bruce watched him from under his lashes.

Tony rapped his knuckles on the workbench. “I’ll send out the memo. Catch ya, Big Guy.” And with a too-thoughtful smirk and a careless wave he was gone.

Bruce stood watching the door for what felt like a long time after Tony left. The Other Guy grumbled and shifted, grumpy at not being allowed out yet satisfied that the danger had passed. No family dramatics in the lab. His lab. Bruce nodded once, and went back to his simulator. If Tony could actually pull it off, there might be the beginnings of something here for him.


End file.
